Nolte: Greenlight Turns Red for Stephen Colbert’s ‘Lord of the Rings’ Movie

Looks like the insufferable Stephen Colbert got canceled twice in 2026. First, his basement-rated Late Night show ended on CBS. Today, we are learning that his face-saving project, scripting a Lord of the Rings movie, has, at best, been put in turnaround.

Tee hee.

If you recall, back in March, just weeks before his humiliating cancellation became real, Colbert showed up in a video hosted by director Peter Jackson to humble-brag about how he’s writing the next Lord of the Rings movie. The message was clear: Colbert wanted everyone to know, especially us MAGAtards, that his career isn’t over. Oh, no! It’s bigger and better than ever! So, take that! And that! And THAT!

At the time, Colbert’s movie, Shadow of the Past, was looking like a sure thing. As soon as filming ended on The Hunt for Gollum (which is filming now), Colbert’s movie was all set to start filming. Yes, Colbert’s triumph was a “go picture.”

Well, no more…

Colbert’s “film hasn’t been fully canceled, but it has hit major development speed bumps. They are still working on drafts, but filming isn’t expected anytime soon,” reports Knight Edge Media [emphasis original]. “The new studio simply doesn’t see Lord of the Rings as profitable as it once did and wants to see how The Hunt for Gollum does before greenlighting more projects.”

“It’s also possible they no longer work with the Peter Jackson team and look for new voices to tackle Tolkien’s legendarium,” adds the report. “Nothing will stop production of The Hunt for Gollum, as it’s already begun filming and is expected to continue post-merger.”

Colbert blamed David Ellison’s takeover of CBS for cancelling his Late Night show (even though it was canceled before the merger was complete). And now, just days after Ellison’s merger with Warner Bros. was finalized, Colbert’s comeback movie stalls, sputters, and will likely die.

If this episode is ever made into a movie, I’d like to suggest the following title: The Desolation of Smug.

People defend the choice to hand this writing assignment to Colbert based on the notion that he’s some kind of Tolkien scholar. So what? You think that matters? You think, based on who Colbert has been for the last three decades, this should ease anyone’s mind?

Above all else, Colbert is and always has been a far-left extremist and activist interested only in pushing his fascist agenda and playing to his far-left tribe. Because of this twisted, self-aggrandizing, and shallow impulse, he single-handedly destroyed a decades-old Late Night franchise launched by David Letterman.

The idea that after all the deliberate franchise-destruction leftist Hollywood has engaged in (including Tolkien by way of Amazon’s billion-dollar woketard failure Rings of Power) that Colbert would have suddenly changed his spots and displayed the moral courage to let Tolkien be Tolkien is folly; it is anti-science thinking.

Don’t be stupid.

Colbert is a cancer on all that is good and just and true and traditional. Always has been. Always will be.